Battery Control

Battery Control

What is Battery Control?

Battery Control automatically disables and enables the wireless connections (mobile data, WiFi, Bluetooth) of the device in order to save battery. Additionally it can notify you if battery usage in stand-by is above average (e.g. if there is some background process active although the phone is in stand-by).

Battery Control keeps the wireless connections off as much as possible, but turns it on whenever they are needed (when the screen of the device is on, the device is charging, or on a regular basis). Furthermore Battery Control prevents turning off the mobile data connection if there is still network traffic active. It can also disable the mobile data connection when the remaining stand-by time is low.

Battery Control also works in conjunction with Roaming Control (which enables
or disables the mobile data connection based on your current network).

Unlike other battery savers (e.g. JuiceDefender or Green Power), Battery Control is very easy to set up, and needs no further manual user intervention due to its very intelligent algorithms to turn on wireless connections as needed.

Why do I need Battery Control?

Battery Control helps you to conserve as much battery as possible by turning
off unused wireless connections as much as possible, which usually are (besides
the display) the most power consuming parts of a mobile device. It also helps you
to identify you battery draining background applications.

How does Battery Control work?

Battery Control monitors different states of your device (WiFi connection,
display state, charging state, network traffic, connected devices) in order to decide if a wireless connection needs to get turned off or on. To ensure a good user experience
with your device, Battery Control turns on the data connection regularly for a
short time in order to get any online updates/notifications.

Established connections (mobile data with active traffic, WiFi connected to access point or a connected Bluetooth device) are kept automatically.

When does Battery Control turn on or off the WiFi connection?

If the automatic management of the WiFi connection is enabled, Battery
Control keeps the WiFi connection:

off normally

on if the screen is turned on (if configured) - it is recommended to turn
this option on

on if the device is charging (if configured)

on for a short time on a regular basis (the interval can be configured in
the advanced settings) - it is recommended to use an interval of 15 minutes or
longer

on if there is a WiFi connection established

off if airplane mode is enabled and WiFi is already off (it does not turn off manually enabled WiFi however)

If Battery Control decides to turn off WiFi again, it waits a short time
until WiFi finally gets turned off. This is useful for cases where the WiFi
connection might drop only for a few seconds.

When does Battery Control turn on or off the Bluetooth connection?

If the automatic management of the Bluetooth connection is enabled, Battery
Control keeps the Bluetooth connection:

off normally

on if the screen is turned on

on if the device is connected to a Bluetooth device

off if airplane mode is enabled and Bluetooth is already off (it does not turn off a manually enabled Bluetooth connection however)

If Battery Control decides to turn off Bluetooth again, it waits a short time
until Bluetooth finally gets turned off. This is useful for cases where the
Bluetooth connection might drop only for a few seconds.

Why is the remaining runtime shown as "unknown"?

Battery Control needs to collect statistics about the average battery usage
in stand-by mode. This may take several hours, and each turning on the screen or
charging interrupts the process.

Why does Battery Control not support the airplane mode?

Although enabling the airplane mode can save much power (primarily because
the phone radio is turned off), it does not make much sense:

The phone cannot be used for calls anymore (so you might miss important
calls).

Turning off airplane mode (e.g. when screen gets turned on again) would ask
for the PIN code for the SIM card - and again, the phone is not really usable
until you enter the PIN code. You might overcome this restriction by disabling
the PIN protection of the SIM card, but this does not seem a really good option.

Airplane mode could be useful during night time (when you do not expect
calls usually), but exactly at this time most users have their phone plugged for
charging anyway (so there is no need for saving battery).

Why does Battery Control not support switching auto sync on and off
automatically?

Auto sync basically ensures that the device retrieves the most current
information (emails, calendar entries, etc.) from a remote server. Whenever you
decide to turn on the data connection (mobile data or WiFi), the main purpose is
to retrieve data, so there is no point in turning off auto sync. This is also
valid for regularly turning on data for a short time while the phone is in
stand-by mode: the only real reason for this option is to retrieve emails while
the phone is in stand-by mode, but auto sync is required to do this.